Itanagar: Failure to use basic knowhow provided by the Horticulture department to orange growers at Lohit district in Arunachal Pradesh has led to a decline in production of the fruit.
“We are getting feedback and closely observing the prime reason of decline in orange production and working out a plan to address the issue,” the district’s Horticulture Development Officer S Rehman said. “It needs scientific approach right from pit digging, accurate spacing, maintaining proper sanitation and pruning, regular inspection, spraying of insecticide and fungicide to control trunk borer and bark eating caterpillars,” he added.
The failure by farmers to use basic technical knowhow imparted from time to time were the reasons for the decline in citrus production, departmental officers said. Altogether, 51 farmers with over 10 hectare orange orchards earning Rs 6 lakh annually in the district are bearing the brunt of declining orange production. Patam Rangmang, a progressive farmer from Wakro circle said, “Our mainstay of economy is in threat.
If production declines, our livelihood would be affected which needs immediate intervention by the horticulture department.” “The production as expected this year was disappointing and we earned a meagre Rs 19,000 instead of Rs 30,000-40,000,” Ayansi Tindiya of Changliang village said. The district horticulture department, however, cited scanty rainfall as the main cause of decline in orange production.
“The department has launched multi–disciplinary strategies to rejuvenate the orange orchards,” District Horticulture Officer O Tabing said. “The department’s officials have been constantly liaising with progressive farmers to address the unprecedented symptoms discovered in citrus cultivation,” he added. (PTI)
